Naftalan

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Naftalan
coat of arms
coat of arms
State : AzerbaijanAzerbaijan Azerbaijan
City with rayon status: Naftalan
Coordinates : 40 ° 30 ′  N , 46 ° 49 ′  E Coordinates: 40 ° 30 ′ 0 ″  N , 46 ° 49 ′ 0 ″  E
Height : 230  m
 
Residents : 9,500 (2014)
Time zone : AZT ( UTC + 4 )
Telephone code : (+994) 2235
Postal code : AZ4600
License plate : 46
 
Community type: City (şəhər)
Map of Azerbaijan, position of Naftalan highlighted
Spa in Naftalan, postcard from 1969.

Naftalan is a city with district status in western Azerbaijan near the Lesser Caucasus . The city is located south of the Goranboy Rayon and had 9,500 inhabitants in 2014. The city's name is derived from the Greek word naphta for oil and the Azerbaijani -alan , "to take". There are rich oil deposits in the region .

There are currently numerous refugees from neighboring Nagorno-Karabakh living in the city and the surrounding area because of the Nagorno- Karabakh conflict .

Oil baths

There are numerous baths in the region where you can bathe in petroleum. This oil is said to have a metabolism-stimulating and disinfecting effect. Scientists criticize, however, that various ingredients in petroleum are considered carcinogenic. The oil is also called naftalan .

The region was already known in the 12th century for its oil baths, which were used for medicinal purposes. Already at this time, the oil from Naftalan reached many countries in the Middle East via caravans and travelers from Turkey, Persia, Afghanistan and other countries came to visit the baths Marco Polo also wrote about the oil baths.

Since the end of the 19th century, the oil was rediscovered as a medicine and exported by the German chemist E. Jäger. Azerbaijani scientists Yusif Mammadaliyev and Ali Guliyev researched the effects and components of the oil. The oil began to be processed according to the principles they had discovered. Ahad Hasanov started giving patients so-called kerato-naftalan. During the Soviet era , the city was known for its medicinal baths. In 1980 there were 75,000 visitors.

Today there is a healing center in the city, where skin and bone diseases are treated with the aid of the oil.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Population by sex, economic and administrative regions, urban settlements of the Republic of Azerbaijan at the beginning of the 2014 ( Memento from July 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on the website of the Azərbaycan Respublikasının Dövlət Statistika Komitəsi (State Statistics Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan)
  2. ↑ a b Azerbaijan International on Naftalan 1995
  3. ^ A b New York Times about the oil baths in the article Bathing in Black Gold for Health and Profit in Azerbaijan
  4. ^ Azerbaijan International on Naftalan 2002